The present study investigated the usefulness of a pre-programmed, teleoperated, socially assistive peer robot in dynamic testing of complex problem solving utilising the Tower of Hanoi. The robot, in a 'Wizard of Oz' setting, provided instructions and prompts during dynamic testing to children when they had to solve 3 D Tower of Hanoi puzzles.…

How students develop vocational knowledge is a rather under-researched topic in the context of vocational education and training. Vocational knowledge is perceived as the kind of knowledge required to perform in occupational practice. From an activity-theoretical approach to learning, supplemented with ideas borrowed from inferentialism, this…

Process-oriented dynamic testing aims to investigate the processes children use to solve cognitive tasks, and evaluate changes in these processes as a result of training. For the current study, a dynamic complex figure task was constructed, using the graduated prompts approach, to investigate the processes involved in solving a complex figure task…

Animated models explicating how a problem is solved and why a particular method is chosen are expected to be effective learning tools for novices, especially when abstract cognitive processes or concepts are involved. Cognitive load theory was used to investigate how learners could be stimulated to engage in genuine learning activities. It was…

The main goal of the current study is to capture differential frequencies of mentor teachers' reflective moments, as indicators of different levels of consciousness in mentor teachers' use and acquisition of supervisory skills during mentoring dialogues. For each of the 30 participants, two mentoring dialogues were analyzed: one before and one…

Four computer-based training strategies for geometrical problem solving in the domain of computer numerically controlled machinery programming were studied with 60 Dutch secondary technical school students for effects on training performance, transfer of performance, and cognitive load. Results support the utility of worked examples for transfer…

Results demonstrate that number can be abstracted from an array of elements in estimating. Estimation appears to be based on the perception of a higher order structure, and persons of 8 years and older are able to abstract the structure from an array of objects. Even 6-year-old children can be trained to estimate by abstracting number. (Author/RH)

Dutch researchers investigated the effects of Obuchova's method of teaching measurement to kindergarten children with no knowledge of conservation or seriation. Results indicated training was highly effective. Skills were transferred to conservation tasks not taught in training. Transfer to concepts not included in training was also observed. (SM)

A considerable amount of current research on teaching and teacher education focuses on teacher collaboration. Teacher collaboration is presumed to be a powerful learning environment for teachers' professional development. However, empirical research about how teachers actually learn in collaborative settings is lacking. In this study, learning…